It seems that every summer there is a messy and painful transfer saga that drags on throughout the course of the window. It usually involves Manchester United. Two summers of wrangling with Borussia Dortmund over Jadon Sancho and two more of trying to prise Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona are recent examples. Wesley Sneijder and Sergio Ramos are older ones. Look at how they all turned out.
Enter Viktor Gyokeres. It appeared to be a no-brainer for United; a lethal 54-goal striker, protégé of United boss Ruben Amorim, with a gentleman’s agreement to leave Sporting CP for €60m (£51m) + €10m in bonuses, and United seemingly having a free run at him. Slam dunk.
But it is never that simple, is it? Arsenal suddenly turn their attentions to him after flirting with RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko; Sporting’s president Frederico Varandas reneges on the gentleman’s agreement and starts asking for €80 million instead of €60m, Juventus enter the fray and lodge a €70 million bid and Gyokeres himself reportedly tells United he does not want to play for them.
United fans would normally be bracing themselves for a roller coaster summer of “will he, won’t he”, waking up every morning to click on headlines in their favourite news channel (The Peoples Person, of course) to feed off the latest chapter in the saga.
However, this year is different. The club is now being run by INEOS. This is not Ed Woodward or Richard Arnold. This is Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, men who understand the football world. While staying informed, they have not even lodged a bid for Gyokeres, they have taken a step back, and rightly so. It is Arsenal, not United, who find themselves trapped in the spider’s web this summer.
It is not that United wouldn’t love to sign the deadly Swede. For once, they are one step ahead of the game. They have known for months that this was shaping up to be the sh-t show of the summer.
Back in April, Amorim was asked at a press conference whether he had spoken to Gyokeres about a potential move to Old Trafford. His response was telling:
“I didn’t talk to him,” he said. “But if a player only wants to come to Man United to play Champions League, then he won’t come.
‘We want players who want to represent United, not players who want to play in certain competitions.”
Of course, this could have been a little bit of psychology, but if we are to take it on face value, then United already knew that Gyokeres only wanted to sign for a club participating in the Champions League.
Had the Red Devils beaten Spurs in the Europa League final to qualify for that competition, they could then have challenged for the 27 year old’s signature, but they did not. What’s more, would and should they have wanted to, if that was all he was interested in? Amorim’s comment suggests they would not.
While it’s disappointing, we have to say bravo to Berrada, Wilcox and Amorim for walking away quickly and not spending the whole transfer window flogging a dead horse and pursuing a player who is not itching to play for them.
Fans have also scratched their heads wondering why INEOS are not going all-out to capture two other top-drawer strikers, Victor Osimhen and Jonathan David. Perhaps it is the same story there – Champions League football may be more important to them than the club they sign for. Rather than grovel to them, as Woodward and co. would have done in the past, the new United will walk away, or at least, keep their distance and wait to see if these glory-hunting stars learn the error of their ways and come knocking on their door.
Over the past few days, reports of United’s interest in Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike, a self-confessed childhood United fan, have started to proliferate. Is this any coincidence? Have they found, in him, a player who ticks all the boxes, including the important one of wanting to play for Manchester United above all others?
Featured image Gualter Fatia via Getty Images
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Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
